The aptly named “”A Guy Thing”” fails to commit, and it drinks straight from the carton on its way to boring its viewers. While the weight of the film rested on Jason Lee’s shoulders, not even Arnold could have borne the weight of this ridiculously trite excursion in combining ideas from other bad films. From the “”Dead Man on Campus”” typecast maniac to Lee’s character, nearly everything in this film had been done before, and done better. Even a number of Lee’s fantasy sequence scenes felt like rip-offs from the NBC’s “”Scrubs.””

Courtesy of Metro Goldwyn Mayer

“”A Guy Thing”” draws most of its comedy from the interesting differences between men and women. As a wedding date fast approaches, catastrophe ensues. Instead of making intelligent observations about the differences between the sexes, it takes steps backwards, repeating lines that everyone has heard from men before, such as “”it’s natural, we are hunters.”” Meanwhile, the womenfolk are basically unable to do anything but worry about the wedding amidst believing the barrage of stupid lies told to them by their significant others.

The real question that the film asks the viewer is: Who is hotter, Selma Blair or Julia Stiles? Viewers were given nearly two hours to ponder a question that most guys can answer in less than five seconds. The problem is that by the end of the film, it is difficult to feel anything but indifferent about the question due to the number of times that their characters cause dry heaving. In this classic battle between the reserved brunette and the buxom blonde, there are no winners — just losers and a lot of bad acting.

The film earns its one and a half stars by delivering one line that got the entire audience laughing, which just happens to be the film’s title. A background of semi-comedic supporting roles fails to white out the fact that there are no other redeeming qualities in this film. While the film fails to be romantic or funny, the fact that “”A Guy thing”” was released during awards season makes this misdemeanor a felony. While it is difficult to imagine a time of year when this film could do well, the long list of excellent films in theatres right now makes it easy to make the statement: There is no reason to see this film.

A Guy Thing

**

Starring Jason Lee, Julia Stiles and Selma Blair

In theaters jan. 17

Rated PG-13